Need some help building a totemist.

[Xrocks]

I'm starting a campaign that goes from level 1 to 30. I was going to play a binder but for many reason I ended up wanting to play a Totemist. My party has a sorcerer (white dragonspawn loredrake kobold,etc),a spirit shaman, a warblade and a swordsage.
Thing is I never played one before and even after reading the handbook I'm somewhat lost in how to make a powerful Totemist that can stay competitive in melee all through the 30 levels, oh and I have access to all 3.5 books and the dragon magazine.
For the race I was thinking either:
-Feral artic half-minotaur water orc
-Artic dragonborn half-minotaur mineral warrior incarnate construc warforged (I read about using half-ogre instead of mineral warrior but I wouldn't know to make sense of if in the RP sense on top of everything else).
Other good race combos could be great too, I like the idea of getting more natural weapons from my race.
I really want to play it with tons of natural attacks, also if there's a way to get my Totemist to huge size it would really help I think.

For PrC I'm not sure if Totemist 2/Lion-totem Barbarian/Totemist X, Totemist 2/Lion-totem Barbarian/Totem Rager 10/ Totemist X or another build would be better. I'm not sure if there are some dips (like warrior, warblade, etc) that may work or another PrC. Also for example I read that landshark boots are great but I know very little about chargers so I'm not sure why its that good, something like Bloodtalons or Girallon Arms seem better.

As for feats (I have 2 flaws) I know I probably want:
-Double Chakra,Expanded Soulmeld Capacity, Multiattack
Maybe want:
-Open Chakra (Any) (not sure in what slot), Cobalt Charge, Cobalt Rage, Improved Multiattack , Rapidstrike/Improved Rapidstrike
As for other feats, if I have tons of natural weaps of the same kind maybe Improved Natural Weapon?.

Soulmelds:Bloodtalons,Girallon Arms,Rageclaws,Displacer Mantle,Phase Cloak and Manticore Belt seem to be the best in my eyes, but this is only from reading.

As for items (not sure what are the best and what would be the best order to try to get them) but the ones I've really like are:
-Fanged Ring
-Necklace of Natural Weapons (with X enchantment)
-Amulet of Mighty Fists
-Jaws of the Dragon (If I end up playing something like a Warforged with Jaws of Death feat or something like that).
-Bands of Blood Rage

All help is appreciated :smallsmile:

[Tvtyrant]

Well, there are questions associated with your questions.

1) Do you want to be a charger?

If so then going Spirit Lion Barbarian 1/Totemist/Totem Rager would not be a bad route to go. You would need the incarnum rage and charge feats to put your essentia in, and would probably bind Girralon Arms for the extra arms and claws, and then combine it with Urksan Greaves for extra d6s on charging natural weapons. You want to be either a Kobold or a Warforged for a bite attack, which will get you an extra source of d6s and strength to damage. The issue with chargers is you are heavily focused on, well, charging. You have to have room in order to charge, and smooth terrain or flying. Pegasus Wings get you the flying, so you don't need freedom of movement. Items that are really good are Belt of Battle and Charging Boots (I think that is the name). Charging boots let you charge as a standard action, while Belt of Battle grants you extra actions. So once a day you can charge, move away, and then charge again.


People who like Landshark Boots like the fact that it grants you pseudo-pounce, with all four attacks at full strength. One slot can then take the place of girallon arms+Sphinx claws for instance.

[Xrocks]

Thanks for the explanation, now I understand the Landshark Boots better. Honestly being a charger for a character than I'll probably be playing for more than a year doesn't seem that fun.
I'm still in the dark as to how to make my Totemist keep up with an optimized warblade in combat, but now I know that I want to get many natural weapons and crack skulls.

[Rubik]

A totemist 2/ardent (or psion) 5/ghostbreaker 5/illithid slayer 8/psywar (or ardent) 1/metamind 10/slayer 2 would be awesome here, with the right mantles and feats to take up the slack.

Most of the totemist goodies are in the first couple of levels, with the totem chakra being the big one. Once you get a hold of Psionic Open Chakra (a psionic power in MoI) you can bind to your chakras with impunity, especially with manifester level boosters and cost reducers. It plays like a gish, and is extremely powerful and flexible.

And daddy psionics and daddy incarnum love each other very much.

[Xrocks]

Wow I really like the idea of combining meldshapers with psionic powers, I played a psysic warrior until lvl 6 in another campaign and it was pretty fun.
How does Psionic Open Chakra works?, any feats that I should absolutely take?, should I take the natural weapons route and complement it with the psionic powers?.

Thanks for the advice, gonna give a good read to the EXPH

EDIT: I forgot to ask, any reason you suggest 8 Illithid Slayer levels instead of taking 8 SRD Slayer levels?. Oh and another question, what mantles do you suggest I take and were are they? (when I played the psywar I didn't see anything about mantles in the EXPH).

[Rubik]

Wow I really like the idea of combining meldshapers with psionic powers, I played a psysic warrior until lvl 6 in another campaign and it was pretty fun.I do too. I'm playing a gestalt shaper/constructor//totemist/factotum right now, and he rocks out.


How does Psionic Open Chakra works?You manifest it, it opens a chakra, you bind something to that chakra. It explicitly gives you more chakra binds than you had beforehand, so you won't need more than a couple of levels in totemist to get that totem bind. Even better, boosting the augmentation of POC means you've got access to chakra binds levels and levels before anyone else.

I regularly bind the phase cloak to my shoulders chakra at or around level 10.

SO. COOL.


any feats that I should absolutely take?Linked Power, Midnight Augmentation, and Psicarnum Infusion (which lets you fill up your incarnum feats for 24 hours without spending essentia; useful for Midnight Augmentation). I also like Overchannel and Psicrystal Affinity (use Share Pain and Vigor for half-damage and an effective +10 temp hp per power point spent, if you share both with your psicrystal). I also like Psicrystal Containment and Psionic Meditation, though this is mostly for a psionic focus-heavy build. I also find ways to get as many feats squidged into the build as possible.


should I take the natural weapons route and complement it with the psionic powers?.Depends on how you want it. You can do it that way, or you can use your soulmelds for utility and saving pp, while using your powers for offense. Or you could take a dragonborn (heart) warforged, and start taking tons of metabreath and metapsionic feats, and hit up the Gemstone Breath power from Dragon Magic, for tons of breath weapon goodness (since you have two different breath weapons, one of which is ALSO a psionic power, so you can use both metabreath and metapsionic feats on it).

It's a VERY versatile class spread, really.


Thanks for the advice, gonna give a good read to the EXPH

EDIT: I forgot to ask, any reason you suggest 8 Illithid Slayer levels instead of taking 8 SRD Slayer levels?.I tend to go with the books, since the SRD slayer is considered just a bit cheesy. Nothing wrong with taking it, though, since it's easier to get in and you're not restricted to fluff.

[Xrocks]

Thanks a tons for all the great advice, I know have a better idea of where to go with the build.